Since Ray Tracing is part of the discussion now, I've conducted some of my own observations.

3DMark has a ray-tracing benchmark out (only a few dollars to add it). I watched the video of it (my card does not have ray tracing). Many fully reflective surfaces. Looks very realistic. Runs at 1080p on RTX2080Ti (they say). Anyone can go to Steam page and watch the video.

Played Assassin's Creed Odyssey main campaign and now back on A.C. Origins (never finished it). No ray-tracing -- but, has reflections (mostly on water surfaces). The reflections look "real" when playing. I have to stop and stare to see the non-real aspects. However, if all the graphics were fully ray traced, I imagine I would easily see (and like) the difference.

Full ray tracing is currently not possible because it costs far too much GPU power -- rather developers must pick and choose what aspects to ray trace (I have read). And, there are other ways to get reflections/shadows/lighting-effects that do not cost much GPU power (e.g. those used by A.C. Odyssey/Origins). For ray tracing, beauty will be in the eye of the beholder -- no wrong way to enjoy gaming.


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